MANDA INSTITUTE

Code of Conduct

Eight promises about how we are paid, what happens to your data, and what we publish. Each one says what it means in practice, because a promise with no mechanism behind it is just marketing.

Most of what goes wrong in this industry is about money and pressure.
Selling a business is something most owners do once. That asymmetry is what makes the industry difficult. The advisor knows how the process works and the owner does not, and the usual result is a retainer that is charged whether anything happens or not, an exclusivity clause that is easy to sign and hard to leave, and a valuation that is set high enough to win the mandate rather than low enough to be true.
The promises below are the specific things we have decided not to do. They are written as commitments rather than values because a value cannot be broken, and a commitment can. Each one is followed by the mechanism that would have to fail for us to break it, so you can check whether we are keeping it instead of taking our word.
Eight commitments, and what each one means in practice.
We intend that you pay nothing up front.
IN PRACTICE There is no card to enter, no retainer, and no free trial that quietly becomes a charge. You can value your business, read our benchmarks and speak to an advisor before any money is discussed. Provisional. No engagement letter has been drafted yet, so this is how we intend to charge rather than terms you can hold us to.
We intend to be paid only when a business actually sells, and for the fee to be 5% of what the seller receives.
IN PRACTICE The fee is calculated on the proceeds that reach you, not on a headline enterprise value that nobody banks, and it is invoiced after completion rather than in stages along the way.
No listing fee, no subscription and no auto renewal intended.
IN PRACTICE Nothing recurring is ever started, so there is nothing you have to remember to cancel and no renewal date you can miss.
If a buyer did not come through us, we intend that you owe us nothing, and proving otherwise would be our job.
IN PRACTICE We have to produce a dated record of the introduction we made. If we cannot produce one, no fee is due. You are never asked to prove that you found someone on your own.
You can withdraw at any time, and withdrawal actually works.
IN PRACTICE You can withdraw a single document, a single counterparty, or the entire process. Access ends when you say so, not at the end of a notice period.
Your data is never sold, never used to train models, and never used to market to you on behalf of anyone else.
IN PRACTICE The figures you enter are used to produce your valuation and to run the service you asked for. They are not a product we resell, and they are not training material.
Every number we publish carries its source and its date, and where we have no data we say so.
IN PRACTICE Each published figure records where it came from and when it was measured. When a sector has no reliable basis, the page says that plainly instead of showing a quiet estimate dressed as a fact.
We only call a valuation reviewed when a person has reviewed it.
IN PRACTICE The valuation the platform produces today is software output from the figures you provide, and it is labelled as not reviewed by a person. It keeps that label until a reviewer has checked the inputs and the result and recorded that check. Nothing is described as reviewed before then.
Tell us, and we will put it in writing.
If you think we have broken one of these promises, write to us through the contact page and say which one. We will respond with what happened and what we are doing about it, in writing, rather than asking you to talk it through on a call.
Where a promise here conflicts with something in our Terms of Service or the engagement letter you will be asked to sign, tell us about the conflict. Our intention is that the documents agree, and if they do not, that is a mistake we need to fix rather than a gap for us to use.
See what your business is worth before anyone asks you for money.
The valuation is free, there is no card to enter, and nothing recurring is created.
Built for European businesses
Free to start. No account needed for the instant benchmark.
The one success fee we intend to charge, only when a deal closes.
The instant benchmark takes under 60 seconds.
Owners across the EU, EEA, UK and wider Europe can use the valuation form.
Export or permanently delete everything we hold, any time.
Manufacturing & industry
Technology & telecoms
Consumer, retail & media
Healthcare & education
Professional & financial services
Energy, transport & agriculture
FOR BUYERS
FOR SELLERS
Ready to know your number?
The instant benchmark gives you an indicative value range in under 60 seconds, measured against completed sales of medium sized European businesses. The full valuation takes about 5 minutes, uses your own financials and shows up to four methods. Both are free. Both are indicative estimates, not a formal appraisal.
The one success fee we intend to charge applies only when a deal closes. Provisional. No engagement letter has been drafted yet, so this is how we intend to charge rather than terms you can hold us to.

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